Our usual Mon - Fri routine goes something like this:
5:30 - Send an innocent text the working man's way, "Any idea what your ETA is babe?" (This falls squarely under the "I need to know when to start making dinner" excuse for interrupting your husband at work....not the "I am dying of loneliness and toddler fatigue" excuse.)
6:00 - The Squirt and I take what I have affectionately come to refer to as my, "6pm Widow's Walk" Sometimes another neighborhood widow even joins us. We look longingly at the houses with two cars parked in the driveway and imagine the scene inside... Father is cutting the roast while Mother and her well-mannered children gather around the table to share anecdotes from the day's events...
6:30 - Back inside to begin making dinner...anticipating B Daddy's 7pm arrival to coincide precisely with bath time, bottle time and bed time.
6:32 - Stop making dinner long enough to untangle E from my legs and plop him in the highchair with a handful of Cheerios.
6:33 - Say a quick prayer that eating Cheerios this close to bedtime does not interfere with drinking his entire bottle.
6:45 - Call to check up on the husband's progress. (This would be the "dying of loneliness and toddler fatigue" call...) Does the background noise sound like 285? If so, cue sigh of relief. If not, fight back desperation in voice...sound empathetic just long enough to say, "I'm sorry you're stuck... call when you head out!"
7:00 - Play with ball, balloon, trucks and TV remotes for 81st time that day.
7:10 - Daddy's HOME!!! Meet B at the back door, hand over the Squirt and get back to dinner.
7:30 - Prep E's bottle, finish making dinner while B Daddy puts the little one to bed.
8:00 - Feed our starving selves.
8:30 - Watch something we Tivo'd the previous night.
9:00 - Bed time! (We both have early curtain calls most days.)
Sounds likes a TON OF FUN right?! We are both getting tired of being so tired at the end of the day. And apparently B Daddy doesn't love walking in the door to a cranky woman and a ready-for-bed baby.
It's time to change up my dinner routine. I figure that if I do a little more planning ahead and have dinner in the bag by the time 6pm rolls around, I'll be more enthusiastic about playing with the TV remotes one more time and maybe less stressed whenever my man rolls in. Tonight is Round 1 and I'm making something called Bacon & Cheese Chicken (is it even possible to go wrong?)
B Daddy for his part is trying to figure out a way to get home a tad earlier.
Is this scenario familiar to anyone else? Are we the only ones going through total chaos each week night? I would love some advice from those of you who are further down the road or have a system that works!
At the very least I'd love someone to commiserate with.
Oops I accidentally deleted it!I know how you feel and can understand your pain. Besides crock pot recipes another option is baked dinners. If you bake a bunch of chicken ahead you can several meals almost made ahead. For example Baked chicken 1st night , Chicken Caesar Salad 2nd , chicken pot pie third . Just some ideas I hope it helped:)
ReplyDeleteQuick brief on the scene at this two car house around 6:30pm: "whhaaaaaaaaaaa!... babe you cant just sit there with him! try something else!....He wont quit crying babe.... ok, ok, just get him in the tub...here- your turn for bottle duty tonight...{40 minutes later}whew- hope he's down for good...do you feel like cereal for dinner?"
ReplyDeleteIll let you guess whose phrases are whose. :) So, dont be sad- call me for a widows walk- and let me know how the bacon chicken turns out!